The Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle for Britain
9pm, Channel 4
Tom Barrow directs this gripping three-part series exploring the lasting psychological and sociopolitical impact of the horrifically divisive miners’ strike. The opener centres on Shirebrook, a Derbyshire pit village that was so bitterly divided that it was dubbed “the Belfast of England”. There are first-hand testimonials from former striking miners and those who chose to work, eliciting previously untold accounts from that tumultuous year. Ali Catterall
Secret Life of the Safari Park
8pm, Channel 4
A new eland antelope calf ought to be good news but, as the autumn makes Knowsley Safari Park even less like the African savannah, the attraction’s staff have a problem: they don’t know where the mother, Purple, has left the baby. While 12 hectares are quickly searched, Jen and Ted – she a vet, he a lion – have a meeting that ends with Ted under general anaesthetic, receiving a full health check. Jack Seale
Dragons’ Den
8pm, BBC One
A caveman and cavewoman enter the den with their cute cave kids this week, looking for investment in their stone age education programme. Steven Bartlett looks bewildered, while Deborah Meaden seems to dig it. Later, a Guinness World Record breaker pitches henna. Hollie Richardson
Tonight: Mr Bates vs the Post Office – The Drama That Shocked Britain
8.30pm, ITV1
TV proved that it has the power to create change through storytelling with the recent drama about the Post Office scandal. This programme looks at how, 25 years after the disastrous introduction of the Horizon IT system, the show has caused national outrage and compelled the government to take action. HR
Grantchester
9pm, ITV1
Ooh, vicar! The odd-couple sleuthing series threatens to go full Carry On when Rev Will (Tom Brittney) is confronted by a topless women’s rights protester at a drinks reception. But is it all just a front to cover up the theft of a Modigliani? Dogged cop Geordie (Robson Green) is determined to get to the bottom of it. Graeme Virtue
Julia
9pm, Sky Atlantic
Despite glowing reviews, this gorgeous drama about chef Julia Child has been cancelled – so polish it off while you can. Julia (Sarah Lancashire) and Paul (David Hyde Pierce) are finally back working on “our little show”, but they clash with new director Elaine. Elsewhere, will Blanche realise that she needs Judith more than ever? HR
Film choice
No Hard Feelings (Gene Stupnitsky, 2023), 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
On paper this is the last film you would expect Jennifer Lawrence to make. At this point, logic dictates that she should be chasing worthy awards bait. Instead, she signed up for this comedy about a woman hired by a worried couple to try to have sex with their nervous young son. What’s amazing is how well the film works, thanks to Lawrence’s committed performance. One scene, in which she suplexes a teenager on the beach, is as daring as anything she attempted in Mother. Stuart Heritage
The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942), 8:30pm, BBC Four
The story behind The Magnificent Ambersons is almost as good as the film itself. A year after the triumph of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles wrote, directed and starred in an even more ambitious project: an adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s novel about a wealthy family living through the dawn of the automobile. However, fearing the film’s downbeat ending, the studio hastily re-edited it, and a fire ensured that it could never be put back together according to Welles’s wishes. Incredibly, even in this brutalised condition, it remains a masterpiece – although Welles was never quite the same again. SH
